(82b) Steam Blow Line Split – Cause, Corrections, and Recommendations
AIChE Spring Meeting and Global Congress on Process Safety
2021
2021 AIChE Virtual Spring Meeting and 17th Global Congress on Process Safety
Topical 4: The 33rd Ethylene Producers Conference
Ethylene Plant Operations I
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 10:45am to 11:10am
Standard industrial practice for cleaning steam circuits is the use of a low-pressure continuous steam blow, where a steam flow is controlled at conditions defined to create pipe wall forces above what is expected under normal operation. The steam control is commonly accomplished with the use of an orifice plate or a ‘sacrificial’ valve. During the 2017 commissioning of an ethylene production facility in Freeport, Texas a steam line failed and split open while performing a low-pressure continuous steam blow. This paper discusses the details of the failed steam blow, the cause of failure (line irregularities, acoustic induced vibration), and the leverageable corrections made to effectively and safely re-establish and complete the steam blow.